SECTOR: "C".

  "You're so annoying..." Zarbac spat a mouthful of blood onto the floor, panting heavily. "YOU ARE SO FUCKING ANNOYING!"

  His scream echoed down the corridor, a mix of pure rage and childish frustration. His pristine tactical suit was torn, and his body was covered in bruises that weren't healing as fast as he wanted.

  Across from him stood Clifford, though his black armor no longer looked pristine either. There were dents in the chest plate and cracks on the pauldrons, and his heavy breathing was audible through the helmet. The exhaustion was mutual, a dance of attrition where neither was willing to yield.

  "Heh..." a small, distorted chuckle escaped Clifford's helmet.

  Zarbac ground his teeth at the sound.

  Meanwhile, inside the room where the two Foxes lay, the scene was bleak. Lunaria, with a swollen eye and blurry vision, had regained consciousness and was fighting to stay awake. The sheer disbelief of watching Clifford's bare-knuckle brawl against that monster kept her grounded, even if she could only catch glimpses through the hole in the wall.

  Suddenly, she felt a warm touch on her hand.

  Lunaria looked down with difficulty. Krzytof's hand, trembling and stained with dried blood, had sought hers among the rubble. She gave his fingers a weak squeeze and turned her head toward him.

  "Thank god..." Krzytof whispered, his voice broken and barely audible. "Thank god you're alive."

  Tears welled up in both their eyes, mixing with the grime on their faces. It wasn't out of sadness, but pure, overwhelming relief that the other was still breathing.

  "HOW LONG ARE YOU GOING TO KEEP ANNOYING ME?!" Zarbac's scream shattered the moment, echoing off the metallic walls.

  Clifford wiped away a trail of blood leaking from under his helmet and shrugged with infuriating calmness.

  "The only annoying one here is you," Clifford replied, tilting his head. "Figure it out."

  The vein on Zarbac's forehead bulged, pulsing furiously.

  "FUCK YOU!" he screamed repeatedly, slashing the air with his knives. "I won't show you any mercy... You don't get to play with me, you cheating bastard... I'm the one who makes the rules!"

  "Oh man..." Clifford let out a mocking laugh. "That's a shame... don't you think?"

  Zarbac ground his teeth so hard it sounded like bone snapping. He clenched his fists until his knuckles turned white, preparing to launch himself into a final, suicidal attack.

  But the ship had other plans.

  BOOOM!

  A violent tremor, far more intense than the previous ones, rocked the entire frigate. The floor beneath their feet tilted sharply. A chain of explosions detonated behind Zarbac, bursting steam pipes and electrical panels.

  In a matter of seconds, a thick, gray curtain of smoke swallowed the corridor at breakneck speed, blinding everything in sight.

  "Now what?!" Zarbac growled, waving his hands to clear the smoke, momentarily blinded.

  Clifford, thanks to his helmet's thermal and sonar sensors, saw what Zarbac couldn't. A silhouette appeared behind the lunatic, walking silently through the spreading fire and smoke like a ghost.

  Zarbac felt a chill, but it was too late. A dull, precise, and devastating blow struck the back of his neck.

  Zarbac's eyes rolled back instantly. His knees hit the deck with a heavy thud, and his body slumped forward, completely unconscious.

  The silhouette materialized through the haze. The Masked General stood there, looming over his subordinate's fallen body.

  "You with him?" Clifford asked, tensing his muscles, ready for another round.

  The General looked at him. His ocular lenses glowed through the smoke. With a fluid motion, he crouched down and hoisted Zarbac over his shoulder like a sack of feathers.

  "Apologies for the interruption," the General said, his voice deep and calm. "But I have to take him."

  Without waiting for a reply, and showing zero interest in fighting Clifford, the General turned around and walked back into the dark, smoky veil, vanishing as quickly as he had appeared.

  Clifford took a step forward, his combat instincts screaming at him to give chase, to eliminate the threat. But then, his tactical AI pinged two weak vital signs behind him.

  He stopped. He turned his head and remembered: Lunaria and Krzytof were still lying on the floor, vulnerable.

  "Damn it..." he whispered.

  He clenched his fist tightly, swallowing his warrior's pride. He dropped his combat stance and ran toward them. With a gentleness that completely contrasted his brute strength, he hoisted Lunaria onto one shoulder and Krzytof onto the other.

  "Hold on," Clifford said, breaking into a run toward a safe zone, away from the fire.

  Minutes later, at the central intersection of Sector C.

  Clifford marched down the corridor, his boots thudding heavily. The smoke was beginning to clear in this area. Looking up, he spotted a group of figures rushing toward him.

  It was them. The Fox Squad.

  Cedric led the charge with his sword drawn, followed by Selene, Lyana, and Aki.

  Seeing their wounded comrades slung over the shoulders of the unknown man in black armor, Lyana and Selene couldn't hold back.

  You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

  "Lunaria! Krzytof!" Lyana cried out, tears streaming down her cheeks.

  Selene rushed to them, helping Clifford carefully lower them down and prop them against the wall. Relief and pain washed over everyone's faces as they took in their friends' battered state.

  Cedric approached Clifford. His eyes met the opaque visor of the helmet. He didn't need to see his face to know that this man had saved them, that he wasn't an enemy. The red hood confirmed his identity, too.

  "Thank you..." Cedric said with profound sincerity, gripping Clifford's shoulder. "Thank you for helping my family. Are you... alright?"

  Clifford straightened up, ignoring the damage warnings blaring inside his own armor.

  "Don't worry about me," he replied, his distorted voice steady. "Get them to the center of the ship. They need medics."

  "What about you?" Cedric asked, noticing Clifford turning back toward where the General had gone.

  "I'm going to take care of the problem," Clifford stated, taking a step.

  Silence hung for a second. Cedric looked at his squad: wounded, exhausted, battered... but alive. Then he looked at the mysterious man's back.

  "Then we're coming with you," Cedric said firmly.

  "We're coming with you," the rest echoed in unison, closing ranks behind their leader and their savior.

  Clifford stopped and slightly turned his head, watching them. Selene, Lyana, and Cedric, in turn, looked in surprise at where they had propped up their badly injured teammates.

  Lunaria and Krzytof, leaning against the wall with pain pulsing through every nerve, made a superhuman effort to stand up on their own. They refused to be a burden, not in front of their family.

  "Sorry for making you guys worry..." Lunaria said with a weak smile, trying to hide a wince as she straightened her back.

  She barely finished her sentence before Lyana and Selene completely broke. They broke formation and threw themselves at them.

  The embrace was clumsy due to the armor and their care not to hurt them, but it was charged with overwhelming emotion.

  Selene held onto Krzytof tightly, as if terrified he might fade away, while Lyana wrapped her arms around Lunaria, burying her tears in her squadmate's shoulder.

  "You idiots..." Selene whispered, her voice trembling. "We thought the worst."

  The moment was comforting, a small island of warmth in the middle of the frigate's metallic hell.

  BOOOM!

  The warmth vanished in an instant. Another tremor, vastly more violent and deeper than the rest, shook the ship's foundations, making the emergency lights flicker.

  The group had to widen their stances just to keep from falling.

  Clifford, who had kept his guard up, looked at the ceiling and then down the dark corridor as the lights returned a few seconds later.

  "There's no time to lose," he said, his tone laced with concern, shattering the moment. "We have to stop the intruders and figure out what's going on. The structure won't hold much longer."

  Just as he finished speaking, the corridor's PA system screeched to life. Major Matsumoto's voice echoed, but this time, the calm authority was gone, replaced by extreme, palpable panic.

  "To all personnel in the East Zone of the ship...!" his voice cracked through the static. "Evacuate to the Central Zone immediately! I repeat, immediate evacuation! The security bulkheads connecting the East Zone to the Center will be sealed in two minutes!"

  The silence that followed the announcement was pure disbelief.

  "Sealed?" Selene asked, staring at the ceiling with wide eyes.

  "Hey! What's going on?!" Aki exclaimed, stepping forward, the panic for his fiancée rushing back into his eyes. "If they lock the bulkheads, no one goes in or out!"

  Cedric rubbed the back of his neck, confused and frustrated.

  "The East Zone is mostly secure!" Cedric shot back, looking at Clifford and then at his squad. "We cleared the perimeter ourselves. Sealing it makes no sense!"

  "Then what?" Lyana questioned, searching her comrades' faces for answers. "Are they locking us in, or locking something else out?"

  Amidst the argument and growing chaos, a sharp beep sounded exclusively inside Clifford's helmet. An encrypted priority signal.

  "Hey, Clifford..." Fer's voice rang in his ear, serious, cold, and stripped of her usual playful cheer.

  Clifford took a step away from the group, momentarily turning his back while the squad debated their next move.

  "Tell me," he answered seriously, lowering his voice.

  "I need you to capture the target shown in this file..." Fer said.

  Instantly, a holographic window projected onto the inner visor of Clifford's helmet. The rotating image of a man appeared, alongside his biometric and service records.

  "Captain Ripto...?" Clifford whispered, confused. "From the White Cradle, Tactical Ops Leader of the Blitz. Why him?"

  There was a brief, tension-filled pause on the other end of the line.

  "He's a traitor," she replied, her voice dripping with a mix of anger and disappointment. "And we need him to sing before this ship tears itself apart."

  Clifford's heart pounded hard at that word: Traitor. It was like a knife straight to the chest, his heart furiously pumping blood to compensate for the phantom wound.

  "You can bring him in half-dead if you want," Fer continued. "I know you'd like to get revenge and kill him, but I need him alive."

  "Anything else?" he asked dryly.

  "Just be careful. The rebel fleet has heavily damaged the East Zone," her voice broke through the static. "Also, there's someone aboard who is very..."

  The interference cut the audio with a burst of static, but the word "traitor" kept bouncing inside Clifford's helmet, unearthing memories he thought he had buried under years of training and indoctrination.

  For a split second, the corridor of the Blitz faded away, replaced by the silhouette of a man sitting on an elevated throne in the dark.

  The man wore a formal Imperial uniform, black with red stripes and gleaming medals. He was smiling—a smile of pure, cruel satisfaction.

  "Your parents were betrayed by the people they trusted, little K..." the man's deep, mocking voice echoed in his memory. "And they died to save you. A creature that couldn't be stronger to avenge them. What a disappointment."

  "Hey!"

  Cedric's shout snapped him back to reality. Clifford blinked, breathing heavily. Cedric was standing right in front of him, gently tapping his armored chest plate with a fist.

  "You okay?" the Vexillarius asked, noticing his savior's sudden stiffness.

  Clifford took a second to nod. The image of the man on the throne vanished, but the rage remained.

  "Yeah..." Clifford lied, regaining his composure. "There's been a change of plans."

  He turned back to the group. Lunaria and Krzytof were barely staying on their feet, leaning on their squadmates.

  Time was running out; the bulkheads would seal in less than two minutes.

  "Everyone, head to the Central Zone," Clifford ordered with authority. "I have to go find someone."

  "What? No!" Aki intervened immediately, stepping forward in desperation. "This is where we split up, then! I have to find someone too."

  Clifford looked down at him. The soldier's determination was suicidal.

  "I will look for that person if they cross my path, soldier. Get to safety. You won't achieve anything by dying here."

  "I'm not leaving without her!" Aki yelled, and with trembling hands, he pulled a small holographic device from his pocket. "Look!"

  Aki activated the device. A small, bluish image floated in the air. It was a young woman with long black hair and a gentle smile.

  "Her name is Mia..." Aki said, his voice cracking. "She's my fiancée."

  Cedric, standing next to Aki, looked at the photo. And then, he felt that same sensation. His eyes went wide.

  That face. He knew it.

  "I've seen her..." slipped from Cedric in a whisper.

  Aki snapped his head toward him, a look of hope so intense it hurt to watch.

  "What? Where?!"

  "I don't remember, I think it was before we went into cryo," Cedric cut in, looking at Clifford and giving a slight nod, confirming the woman was real. "He'll find her. But you're coming with us. Now."

  Krzytof coughed up blood, interrupting the moment just as the ship shuddered again.

  "We should... get out of here..." the medic gasped, deathly pale.

  Clifford looked at the photo one last time, burning it into his system's memory.

  "I'll find her," Clifford promised Aki. "But if you don't leave right now, it won't mean a damn thing."

  Defeated by logic and Cedric's intense glare, Aki lowered his head and nodded, clutching the photo close to his heart.

  "I'm counting on you, boss," Aki told Clifford, transferring all his faith to the man in black.

  Lunaria, leaning heavily on Lyana, looked up at Clifford one last time.

  "You better come back..." she said with a bloody, defiant smirk. "I owe you at least a drink for saving my ass."

  Clifford nodded.

  "Go."

  Without further goodbyes, the group split. The Foxes and Aki sprinted toward the Central Zone bulkheads, carrying their wounded. Clifford, alone once again, turned around and charged back into the darkness of the East Zone.